Saturday, May 11, 2013

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_forgery
"Art forgery is the creating and selling of works of art which are falsely credited to other, usually more famous, artists. Art forgery can be extremely lucrative, but modern dating and analysis techniques have made the identification of forged artwork much simpler."

Well, here we go with some serious forgeries of four Harold Newtons, and an Alfred Hair, offered on Liveauctioneers.com. I'd be very careful with a couple of the Backuses, as well, but I won't bury them. I'll let the market be the judge of those. I'm sure one or two are legit. That's the thing about this auction. There are some genuine Newtons, Hairs offered and mixed in with the phonies.

Now, this is a so-called seemingly reputable auction house in our state capital, doing business as Manor Auctions. They enjoy an enormous google presence and purport themselves to be expert in highwaymen art. Here is undeniable proof that they are not experts. ANYONE can claim expertise. ANYONE.

BE CAREFUL OUT THERE, PEOPLE. BE AWARE THAT THIS IS NOT REALLY UNUSUAL.

The run of fakes begin on page 7 of their catalog with this listing:
Lot # 44123: Harold Newton Florida Highwaymen Seascape

About Me

Facebook links:
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/H-Newton-and-A-Hair-Paintings/309497962412013
https://www.facebook.com/#!/TheOther24HighwaymenArtists
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/A-E-Backus-paintings/226383987441293
Since 1973, Bob LeBlanc has operated as a professional dealer in items of exceptional beauty and value. With the introduction of Highwaymen Art to the public by Jim Fitch in a 1995 issue of Antiques and Art Around Florida, Bob recognized a new and potentially active regional market. Since then, Bob has invested time, effort, and money to promote highwaymen art, exhibiting at antique shows statewide, and creating a web presence.
Since 1996, Bob has handled many of the most important highwaymen paintings available on the market, the H Newton pine tree on the cover of Antiques and Art Around Florida, in 1997, the H Newton river sunset on the cover of the Hambrick video documentary, and the first highwaymen painting to reach the $10,000.00 level.